“In the summer of 2014, as his followers were ravaging the cities of northern
Iraq, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi convened a secret meetin











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Eye on Extremism


July 12, 2022



The Washington Post: ISIS Planned Chemical Attacks In Europe, New Details On
Weapons Program Reveal
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“In the summer of 2014, as his followers were ravaging the cities of northern
Iraq, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi convened a secret meeting with
a weapons expert whose unusual skills the terrorist chief was anxious to
acquire. His guest was a small man, barely above 5 feet tall, and he had only
recently been freed from a years-long stint in U.S. and Iraqi prisons. But
before that, Salih al-Sabawi had been an Iraqi official of some renown: a
Russian-trained engineer who had once helped President Saddam Hussein build his
extensive arsenal of chemical weapons. Baghdadi had summoned Sabawi, 52, to
offer him a job. If supplied with the right equipment and resources, could he
produce the same weapons for the Islamic State? Sabawi’s reply, according to a
later intelligence report about the meeting, was yes. He could do that and
more. Thus began what U.S. and Iraqi Kurdish officials describe as a crash
effort aimed at building the biggest arsenal of chemical and, potentially,
biological weapons ever assembled by a terrorist group. Within six months,
under Sabawi’s direction, the Islamic State would manufacture mustard gas, a
chemical weapon from the World War I era, as well as bombs and rockets filled
with chlorine. But Sabawi’s ambitions, and by extension Baghdadi’s, were much
broader, according to newly disclosed details on the Islamic State weapons
program.”



Reuters: No Appeal From Bataclan Suspect, Closing Chapter On 2015 Paris Attacks

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“Salah Abdeslam, the lone survivor of an Islamist militant squad that killed
130 people in attacks in Paris in 2015, has not appealed his life sentence or
guilty verdict - closing the door to a second trial, a Paris appeals court said
Tuesday. A French court last month judged Abdeslam guilty on terrorism and
murder charges. Nineteen others were found guilty for helping organise the Nov.
13, 2015 attacks that targeted the Bataclan music hall, bars and restaurants
and the Stade de France sports stadium. The Paris appeals court said in a
statement that none of the 20 suspects had appealed the decision.”



United States



Vice: How The ‘Great Replacement’ Myth Inspired A Wave Of Racist Terror Attacks

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“…Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher at the Counter Extremism Project, said
that Tarrant’s so-called manifesto was full of in-jokes and memes from internet
and gaming culture. He referenced a dance from the game Fortnite, and joked
that one old PlayStation game had “taught [him] ethnonationalism.” Before
getting out of his car and launching the attack, Tarrant told his livestream
followers to subscribe to the popular YouTuber PewDiePie. His followers have
responded in kind, with the gunman who attacked a mosque in Baerum, Norway, in
2019, posting a meme shortly before the shooting depicting Saint Tarrant, with
himself as a “disciple.” “[Tarrant] really created this this whole subculture
in a sense of neo-Nazi accelerationists,” said Fisher-Birch. But it’s not just
Tarrant’s methods that have caught on, but also the underlying ideology that
motivated his crimes. These far-right gunmen have all subscribed to a racist
conspiracy theory known as “the great replacement” – the title that Tarrant
gave to the rambling document he posted online – which has gained increasing
currency in right-wing circles over the past decade or so.The theory, a rehash
of longstanding far-right narratives around the erasure of white people, holds
that white populations are being actively “replaced” by non-white immigrants.”



Vice: The Replacement Conspiracy Inspiring Mass Shootings
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“The Great Replacement Theory has fuelled the world’s deadliest white
supremacist terror attacks – but what exactly is it? And how has it leaked into
mainstream politics? VICE World News’ Tim Hume investigates how so-called ‘lone
wolf’ rampages never truly happen in isolation, and how the internet has fueled
the ‘gamification’ of these deadly terror attacks.”



Middle East



Associated Press: US Seeks Extradition Of Palestinian Attacker In Jordan
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“The US said Monday it is still seeking the extradition of a Palestinian woman
in Jordan convicted of aiding a suicide bomber in Jerusalem in 2001, but
declined to comment on a request from the family of one of the victims for a
meeting with President Joe Biden. The family of an Israeli-American girl killed
in the attack have asked for a meeting with Biden when he visits Israel later
this week. They want him to press Jordan, a close American ally, to send Ahlam
Tamimi to the US for trial. “We ask that you address this as only the leader of
the United States can,” Frimet and Arnold Roth, the parents of Malki Roth, who
was 15 when she was killed in the attack, wrote in a letter. “We are bereaved
parents as you are, sir. We have a burning sense that injustice in the wake of
our child’s murder is winning.” The Roths have been waging a campaign for the
extradition of Tamimi since she was released by Israel in a 2011 prisoner swap
with the Hamas militant group and sent to her native Jordan, where she lives
freely and has been a familiar face in the media. “The US government continues
to seek her extradition and the Government of Jordan’s assistance in bringing
her to justice for her role in the heinous attack,” the US National Security
Council said Monday.”



Nigeria



Associated Press: Nigeria Jailbreak Raises More Questions Over Insecurity
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“Nigerian authorities on Monday admitted shortcomings in security at a jail in
the nation's capital after an attack that resulted in the escape of hundreds of
inmates last week. The jailbreak in the Kuje area of Abuja led to the escape of
879 inmates, including 64 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province
extremist group which claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic
State-linked group is an offshoot of the Boko Haram militant group which has
launched a decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria. One of the escapees
from Kuje prison was arrested on Monday, Nigeria’s National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency said, but with at least 400 inmates still on the run,
authorities are expanding the search to neighboring states. Nigeria is
synonymous with jailbreaks which have become more rampant in recent years but
it was the first time during that period that Abuja is being targeted, leaving
many shocked and in fear over how safe they are as the West African nation
battles a cycle of violence blamed on Islamic extremists and on armed groups
mostly in the country’s troubled north. “Kuje (prison) is the most fortified in
the country,” said Rauf Aregbesola, Nigeria’s interior minister. “We had enough
men to protect the facility but unfortunately they couldn’t hold their position
effectively for defense and that was the reason for the breach,” the minister
said after visiting the attacked prison.”



AFP: Ghana Fears Entry Of Nigeria Jail Break Jihadists
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“Ghanaian officials have warned that jailed inmates and jihadists who escaped
during a massive attack on a Nigerian prison this week may try to enter the
country, according to a government communique. Hundreds of inmates and nearly
70 jihadists escaped when gunmen using explosives blasted into the Kuje prison
near Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Tuesday, in an assault claimed by the Islamic
State militant group. The raid was a major blow to Nigeria’s overstretched
security forces after Islamist militants showed they can carry out a
sophisticated operation just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the presidential
villa. Nigerian prison authorities say most inmates have been recaptured,
though the whereabouts of most of the escaped Boko Haram militants and other
jihadists was unclear. Ghana’s immigration service ordered its officials to
tighten controls and intensify border patrols to help stop infiltration by
escapees, according to a communique to commanders dated Friday and seen by AFP.
“Considering current migration trends of Nigerians within the sub-region, it is
likely most of the escapees will attempt to enter Ghana through approved and
unapproved routes,” it said. Nigeria and Ghana are separated by smaller,
French-speaking Benin and Togo, but road and air travel between the two
English-speaking West African states is common and Nigerians usually require no
visa for Ghana. Both countries are members of the 15-member Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, which officially allows visa-free travel
among members.”



Africa



Reuters: Seven People Killed In Explosion In Northern Togo
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“Seven people were killed and two injured in an explosion in northern Togo on
Saturday night, the army said in a statement late on Sunday. The victims were
all between the ages of 14 and 18, said a medical source at the regional
hospital in Dapaong, who asked not to be named. The explosion occurred in the
village of Margba, in the northern Savanes region where Togo declared a state
of emergency last month due to rising insecurity. In May, eight soldiers were
killed in the same region in what was thought to be the first deadly spillover
of Islamist violence from neighbouring Burkina Faso, where groups linked to al
Qaeda and Islamic State wage frequent attacks. read more Local media reported
that the young people were returning home at night from celebrations of the
Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha when they were killed. The army did not say whether
militant activity was suspected. “An investigation has been opened to clarify
the circumstances of this explosion and identify the perpetrators,” said the
statement by army chief Dadja Maganawe.”



Africanews: Burkina Faso: Five Civilians Killed In Attack, Army Says
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“Five civilians were killed Sunday in an attack by suspected jihadists on a
military detachment in Barsalogho, northern Burkina Faso, the army said. “On
Sunday morning, fighting broke out between elements of the military detachment
in Barsalogho”, in the north-central region, “and an armed terrorist group that
had come to attack the detachment's hold. At the same time, another group of
terrorists targeted civilians,” the military said in a statement. The toll was
“five civilians, including a child”, killed, as well as “eight wounded soldiers
who were evacuated and treated”, the army said. Air and ground operations were
immediately launched to track down the attackers, “and several air strikes were
carried out on groups that were trying to retreat to a terrorist base located
in Bangmiougou, near Barsalogho,” according to the army, which said that
“several terrorists were neutralised and the logistical base was destroyed. The
French force Barkhane regularly provides air support to Burkinabe military
operations. Like its neighbours Niger and Mali, Burkina Faso has been caught up
in a spiral of violence since 2015, attributed to armed jihadist movements
affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, which has left thousands
dead and 1.9 million displaced.”



France



The National: How France Finally Made The Tough Decision To Bring Home Its
ISIS Families
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“At dawn on July 5, a group of 16 women and 35 children landed in Paris. When
the women left France, years ago, they were travelling to what was then
ISIS-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria. Now, they returned as single
mothers, coming from detention camps in northeast Syria. After three years of
obstacles and indecision, France has finally decided to repatriate some of its
citizens. While bringing people affiliated with ISIS back to French soil might
seem incredibly risky at best and naive at worst, repatriation is still the
most effective solution to the foreign fighter dilemma.”



Europe



Reuters: Swedish Political Festival Murder Investigated As Possible Terrorist
Crime
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“Swedish prosecutors said on Monday that the killing of a woman at a political
festival last week would be investigated as a terrorist crime. A man was held
after the woman was stabbed to death on the island of Gotland at a political
festival being held ahead of a national election in September. Prosecutors said
last week that he appeared to have acted alone and to have targeted her. The
Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Monday that the man was now suspected of
“terrorist crime through murder”, and of preparing terrorist crime through the
preparation of murder. The authority added that there was no further suspect in
the case.”



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